Brain Slush
by mlle.imandeus
Summary: Puckentine horror with zombies! Zombie AU written for a request from someone who thought BrainCrush sounded zombie-y. Could be a series. Might end up a crossover if ICarly or Victorious characters survive to rendezvous. Rated M for violence and very possibly puckentine love of a sexy nature.
1. Chapter 1

The one thing the zombie movies got right: Don't over explain it. Cause when the dead are getting up and chasing you, you don't ask why, you run. And when they're all around you and there's too many to run, you fight. Then you discover they go down pretty easy and you flip that script and only run when there's too many to fight. And those people who run into a pack too big to fight, but also surrounding them. They die.

But there were plenty of things they got wrong. A headshot doesn't always kill them. The stuff in their head is slush, it's goo. The first thing to decay is the brain. So punching a hole in it shouldn't do a damn thing. But it does. And I'm not even questioning it. This is no longer a world where you can afford to question what works.  
I guess I can't even say it doesn't kill them. Better to say it doesn't kill them instantly sometimes. When the goo leaks out, they die. So shoot, stab, or smash low and it's quick. A screwdriver to the top of their head, doesn't do a whole lot at all.

It's best if you can sever or completely destroy the head if you wanted instant stopping power.

Me and Cat lucked out. Nona, gets up early and has made a lot of friends in her life. So she knew about whatever this was within two hours of it happening.  
Of course when she shows up at a quarter to five in the morning, we don't wake up when she knocks. She still has a key and it is an emergency so she lets herself in.  
Finding us naked and entwined in my bed pretty much solved the coming out to Nona problem. But she didn't mention it. She had more important news.

And as soon as I had Cat conscious again after she fainted, we were able to plan our next move.

Luckily, I'm one if those girls who had spent years playing with the question 'what would you do in a zombie apocalypse?'. Asking my friends; thinking about it on my own.

I had a list of what I thought I'd need. And the first step was the mall. Nona had other people she wanted to warn so we made plans to meet up with her later.

Luckily, we had overnight bags packed. Carly was visiting Spencer for his birthday, and Jade and Tori were in Seattle as well. Spencer had gotten them a gig singing at a fancy coffeehouse that Socko's cousin owned. So we were supposed to fly there for the weekend.

Dice and Goomer were in Fresno again. Apparently there was a lot of minor league MMA fighting going there.

I told Cat to grab the bags. "But I need to call Jade and Tori and Dice and Goomer and My parents. You should call Carly and Spencer and Freddie and warn them. And if we're leaving, there's a lot more I want to take." She said.

"We're going on my motorcycle. We can't take much. But you think about what else you need. The most important thing right now is that we hit the mall before anyone else does. We are not strapped for zombies but we need to be. And we need to be before anyone else knows they're coming.  
So we grab the bags in case something happens and we can't make it back. You think about a few things that you want to take and we'll swing back by here after and get them.  
As far as phone calls go. My spare helmet is fully enclosed face and has bluetooth. Wear that one instead of your cute one and make the calls as we go.  
I'm pretty sure Nona will call your parents though. We also need to call Melanie.

"What about your mom?" Cat asked.

"I'll let Melanie make that call. Both as in decide if we bother and making the actual call if she decides to." I answered.

Something hit me. "Wait I was going to have us go to the poor mall, because it's less likely anyone else would be there. Plus, the sporting good store has guns and knives. And it's got that big Home Depot next door. But if we go a bit south to Culver City there is that huge gun store with that ACE hardware next to it. I'm not looking for selection I'm looking for low key and unlikely to meet anyone else."

A second flash hit right before we mounted to ride. I guess I'm good under pressure.

I grabbed my girl by the shoulders, looked into her eyes and said. "I love who you are and how you are. But this is a new world. My Kitten needs to be Catwoman. I need you to know two things. As far as I'm concerned there is no law and we are all living on borrowed time. Which means if we need it, I take it. If someone gets in our way, I take them down. Pretty soon the whole world is going to be like that, at least for a while. But I'm getting a jump on it.  
I'm fine to take responsibility for us but I need to know that you can handle me doing what needs to be done. Because in case this isn't clear in the confusion of the morning. We are going out to steal weapons and supplies. I don't care about witnesses. But if anyone interferes it will not go well for them."

"I understand. and I trust you Sam." Cat said.

It's amazing how easy it is to steal when you don't care about getting caught. I just broke into the back of the gun store. The alarm gives you thirty seconds before it started. I just used that time to fill the owners coffeepot with water and throw it into the circuit breaker box. Which short circuited everything and disabled the alarm in a way that just tripping all the circuit breakers wouldn't have.  
It will still show up as a power outage at the security office and they might even send someone. But it wouldn't be making any noise and drawing attention. And that's what I was more concerned about. We weren't hanging out long.

I grabbed two shotguns on pistol grips, one regular rifle shotgun, a nice 38 revolver for me and a AP32 for Cat, (because it had a magazine and a lighter kick I figured it would suit her better).

I took all the ammunition he had that would fit the shotguns and 10 boxes each for the handguns. All the guns had trigger locks, but I could drill those out later. I was going to drill one out and load it for incedentals while we were traveling. But I found a nine millimeter under the cash register in a little cubby.

On the floor behind the counter I found a box with a dozen machete's in five different styles packed tightly. so it was heavy but small enough to grab easily so I just took the whole thing. I was looking for something a little lighter and longer for Cat. Lighter so she can wield it longer without getting tired. Longer so she wouldn't have to get so close.

I found a long thin saber but then Cat came in to check on me and pointed at a different display case. "Oooh, butterfly swords. I need these."

Butterfly swords are matched pairs of short swords with blades about 15 inches long and wide like a combination of a meat cleaver and a butcher knife. They go into the sheath fit together so it looks like one knife but then you separate them, one in each hand, to fight.

"I was thinking something a little longer so you don't need to get as close." I explained.

"That'd be fine in a different world. But I actually know how to use butterfly swords. When I was taking Shen Yun dance I learned to use butterfly swords and the ji, which is a type of light spear. It was dance not proper martial arts, but most the movements are the same and it's a start. Looky here." She held up what looked like a skinny dagger from the display with the butterfly swords. "A spear head and next to it a polypropylene spear shaft that breaks down into three pieces. I'm set for hand weapons."

We were just about to leave when a display in the back caught my eye. It was old improvised weapons. Under a sign that said, 'Anything is a weapon in the right hands'.  
It was mostly household stuff some as is. A set of gardening shears seperated into two big knives. A long fat iron bar that was a counterweight from an old garage door. But the one that took my interest was something called a kitchen gauntlet. It was a small cast iron pot with what looked like brass knuckles attached inside. so when worn it covered my entire fist in a bell of iron that went down about an inch past my wrist.  
I had a thought that this was a good weapon against those troubles we met that were still alive, since it basically turned my fist into a hammer and could even be a last resort weapon against the undead.

We were approaching the five minute mark and we had to get out of there. I still needed to stop at the hardware store.

I took Cat's hand and led her out. The hardware store next door looked like it had been in the location at least thirty years. It was small and a little run down, and almost looked like a little white house, in comparison to the fancy new all windows construction of the gun store.

It looked like security hadn't been improved since it was built. I was able to get through the door lock pretty easily and there was no beeping of an alarm preparing to squeal. A moment later it occured to me that the water trick next door probably knocked out the whole area.

A minute after we were inside, a white sedan with the security company logo pulled up. And a man got out. I could hear him talking to his partner and telling him to wait and watch my motorcycle in case we came back while he went into the gun store.

I only had a couple things I needed. Things I'd been meaning to add to my weaponry for some time but couldn't justify buying tools I wouldn't need.  
Luckily this store not only had them, it had them easily grabbable in a section near the front.

The first was a hatchet. I was pleased to find all one piece steel construction, so I didn't have to worry about a wooden handle breaking or the head coming off. I also found a rock pick hammer. It looked like an old time knight's weapon called a crowbill that was a square hammer on one face and a long slightly curved point like a bird's bill. Also solid steel one piece. It would do all the damage of a bullet but silently. However, sadly, also there couldn't be any distance.

I looked at other things, including hardwood dowels in case something happened to Cat's plastic spear shaft. But I decided anything like that could be too easily gotten somewhere else and was too stupid and unwieldy to carry.

As we left I looked cautiously out front. The partner was still gone, the guy left behind was just getting out of the car with his radio. I guess planning to radio my bike's license plate in.

I had to think fast. I pulled Cat by the hand toward the motorcycle. He shouted something at me. I didn't really catch it but I assume it had something to do with freezing and getting my hands up.

I would have loved to try to warn him and reason with him, but this was too early in the chaos, he'd never believe me. I just wasn't planning on chiz getting real this soon. And Cat was right there. I couldn't have anything threatening her or her safety.

I picked up the helmet and shoved it on her head backward, so she wouldn't see. I drew the 9 mil I'd found under the counter, flicked the safety off and shot him twice in the face. This was jungle rules, my friend.

I lifted Cat onto the bike and jumped on myself. Taking off as the partner came running out. He took a couple shots but I didn't expect it to be an issue. We were heading out of way and there aren't too many marksmen in low level commercial security at minimum wage.

I didn't even bother with my helmet. I didn't want to take the time. So I just left it hooked on the side of the seat and dealt with it being in the way until we were far enough away that I could pull over.

"Please don't do that again." Cat said when I got the helmet off her. "It's obvious what you did by the situation and the sound. And he obviously wasn't too hurt if he could shoot at us as we drove away."

I said, "That actually was his partner shooting at us," because I didn't want to feel like I was lying to her. But then immediately changed the subject so she wouldn't follow up and ask how the first guard was doing. "So were you able to make the phone calls?"

"Yeah, turns out Jade was just about to call us. They are staying with Carly at Spencer's. And Carly's dad called this morning and told them. Jade wants us to bring her car. She told me where the spare key is and said there's a trailer in the garage that her parents bought for the jetskis they never use. She said it should carry your bike no problem.

"Well that would allow us to bring more stuff. and if it gets stuck we can always leave it behind. Did you call your other school friends?" I asked.

"I left messages." Cat said, "I didn't get through to anyone else."

We went over to Jade's next. figuring we'd get the car, and then go back to the apartment to pick things up.

I didn't know where Jade lived, but Cat and I made it with her just tapping my shoulder whichever way I was supposed to turn and occasionally reaching past me to point for clarification.

Jade's house was huge. I knew her parents had money but I must admit I was surprised. We pulled in front of the garage, and saw our first deadhead.

I'm think it was the gardener just by the fact he was wearing grass and dirt stained coveralls and was holding a hedge trimmer.  
Althought he clearly did not know he was carrying it. His other arm was reaching out and pawing at the air toward us, but that arm just hung there with the weight of the tool.

I'm pretty sure he was drawn by the sound of the motorcycle. He was only like five feet away so it was not difficult to pop him right in the forehead.

"Oh Sam," Cat said, "Warn me when you're going to do that." She looked shocked and disgusted.

"Okay Kitten. I'm going to kill every zombie we see, that I can kill. So seeing a zombie, that's your warning that I'm going to kill it."

"Kay kay." Cat said. "I'm just going to have to get used to the fact that we're living less in the world we were yesterday and more in a video game. And if you want to survive in a videogame. It's strike first and strike hard."

"Yes. Exactly." I said.

"Catherine, Catherine come here. Bring your friend." It was an old guy calling down from a window.

"Oh it's Jade's dad." Cat said.

"Your name's not Catherine." I said.

"I know, and so does he, but he says that Catherine is the english equivalent of Caterina, and if I want to get anywhere in life I need to have a name that is recognizable to the American people."

"There are at least three famous Caterina's I can think of." I said.

"I know. All I can say is that's why he calls me that. I can't explain why it's not crazy. because it is." Cat said.

"But he named his daughter Jade." I continued.

"Actually he named her Jane. She just refuses to use her birth name. Has since before I knew her. He calls her Jade when they're in public. Because he wants to be understood and doesn't like to explain himself. But he still calls her Jane at home, or privately."

We went into the house. Where Jade's dad met us at the door.

"Hi Mr. West. I need something from Jade's room. This is my girlfriend Sam." Cat said as she ran up the stairs leaving me to make small talk.

"I'm so pleased to see you. Doubly pleased that you brought a weapon. I won't ask why you have it or where you got it." He said conspiratorially.

"I have it to kill zombies. I got it from the gun store when we went there to stock up." I said.

"Killing zombies indeed. I don't know where you young ladies get your imaginations, but you're not children. And if these fantasies are encouraging you carry guns, it's all the more reason you need to look at them again. You just killed a man. I know he was dangerous, he unfortunately got Mrs. West earlier and she's still out there. But if you did it because you thought he was a zombie, I worry about how safe it is to have you running around. Perhaps it's better if you turn the firearm over to me." Jade's dad said. He actually seemed to think it was a reasonable request as far as I could tell.

"Yeah, I'm not doing that. You saw a zombie. Your wife got, what eaten by a zombie, turned into a zombie? I'm not sure what you meant by 'he got Mrs. West'. But if you can see that and immediately dismiss what you saw. I think you're the one with the dangerous imagination. But luckily it's only dangerous to you and your survival. So I'm cool with it." I said, "So what'd you call us over for?"

"Common decency. When someone you know shows up in your yard you say hello. When they kill a crazed staff member who has attacked your wife, doubly so. And for your information. He neither 'ate' her (He did the air quotes) nor did he kill her. He attacked her. He did bite her, she definitely screamed. 'He's biting me'. And then I guess he injected her with whatever it was he was doped up on. But she wasn't logy like him, she was running all around screaming.  
She broke two windows in the back trying to get in. Which is ridiculous, all the ground floor windows have decorative wrought iron, as I'm sure you saw. So she wouldn't be able to get in that way."

This guy seemed pretty nonchalant to be talking about his potentially infected wife. But I suppose he had kind of proven his delusional idiot cred. So I shouldn't be surprised.

"We're just here to pick up Jade's car. We're driving up to meet her." I said. "So as soon as Cat gets back we'll be out of your hair."

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that. I don't know you well enough to trust you with my daughter's car. Not to mention you have a firearm and seem to fancy yourself some sort of modern day zombie hunter." He said.

I thought to myself, "Modern day? As if it was a completely reasonable career in olden times?' Then I said, "Well, as you say, I do have a gun. And if that dude wasn't a zombie I just killed a man. That's just that you know of. Who knows what my mornings been like? So I suggest that you don't want to get in-"

He looked like he was about to say something. But I'll never know what it was. In an instant Cat popped up from behind the couch with her butterfly swords in each hand.

She sank one in his stomach and out again in one fluid motion. Then when he bent over, both blades came down on both sides of his neck almost severing his head. Cat did a backflip to get out of the way of his arterial spray. Which took her back behind the couch.

I waited, expecting her to pop out in a moment.

When she didn't I went around back and found her sitting on the floor staring off into space.

I sat down next to her and took her in my arms. She was stiff for a second, then she wrapped her arms around me and melted against me. "I killed him." She said, sounding dazed.

"Yeah I noticed that, baby. Any reason?" I asked.

"Well Jade said if I see her parents to kill them for her and I said I would, but I didn't really mean it. Then you killed that security guard. And you shot the gardener. And you didn't even pause. You just did it. Bang. Bang. They were dead. And you said that's the world we live in now."

She was getting a little hard to understand, because she was crying pretty hard. I just held her, kissing her head every once in a while.

"I knew we'd have to kill zombies." She started when she had cried it out for now. "But that guard wasn't a zombie. And it was before we'd even seen a zombie. Before we knew first hand if this was real. But I know you did it to protect me. If we're going to make it we cannot start out this war handcuffed in the back seat of a car. or even worse in jail."

"I will do anything to keep you safe, Kitty. You know that." I said.

"I know you will and I love that so much about you." Cat replied, kissing me again. "Ever since you said that about the video game, I have been thinking about what Jade asked me to do. Thinking about if I should do it. Thinking about if I could do it."

"You should have just told me." I explained. "Then we could have decided together. And I could have done it for you."

"But that's just it Sam. You're my protector. I love that. I need that. But if this is a video game world everyone has to be prepared to kill. I can't leave it totally to you, or I'm a burden not a partner. And I will never be a burden to you Sam. I refuse." Cat stated looking into my eyes very intensely.

"You couldn't, kid. It's impossible."

"We'll agree to disagree. But it doesn't matter because I refuse to let it come to that. When we came in I still wasn't sure I was going to do it. But I told that story about going to Jade's room so I could sneak back if I decided to. Hearing him talk made me think. Jade hates her parents, like you hate your mom. And you wouldn't ask someone to kill her. But as soon as I heard him talking I knew, he is never going to make it in this world. Jade's mom has already been lost and he still won't see what's in front of his face. This isn't shock. It's just like the using the wrong name thing it is a pathological refusal to accept the world on the world's terms. And his money and power in the business community isn't going to buy him any indulgence in this new world order." She started getting choked up again. "So it was a mercy in a way."

"It was Cat, it definitely was." I comforted her. "Just like every zombie we kill is a mercy. Death is supposed to be an end."

We heard a noise then as Jade's dad got up. And I realized almost severing the head kills a man. But almost doesn't do a thing to a zombie.

"Close your eyes, sweetheart. And put your fingers in your ears." I said to Cat as I stood up.

Mr. West was standing there, his head tilted to the side. A gaping bloody hole on one side the separated flesh folded over itself on the other. He took two steps toward me. The head wobbling precariously with each and I spread his forehead all over the back of his skull and the back of his skull all over the wall behind him. I picked Cat up and walked the five steps to the door. Putting her down as I shut the door on the carnage.

"So where's Jade's car?" I asked.

"She parks in the carriage house behind the garage." Cat replied.

"I thought a carriage house was a garage." I said.

"It can be. But Jade's parents have both. The garage for her parents' cars and all the tools that the gardener who also works on the cars needs. Then the carriage house for Jade's car and the jet skis and their trailer.

I washed up in the shop sink of the carriage house. Got all the blood off. I was going to change my clothes for an outfit in my overnight bag, but I found several sets of coveralls hanging on a rail and those seemed convenient. Especially since I only had two and a half outfits in the bag.

"Whose are these? They'd never fit the gardener/mechanic guy." I said.

"They're Jade's. I think they're for loveplay." Cat whispered the last word. "I know Tori has a thing for uniforms. And apparently she also likes to be taken by mechanics or whatever."

I took my hand away for a second but then thought about how I just don't squick that easy. I changed into one and threw the other three into the trunk of the car. They were just too easy and useful to not bring them. Any one of us four girls could wear them in an emergency and I liked 'em.

It took me less than five minutes to get the trailer hooked up and almost fifteen to get my bike situated so it wouldn't fall. Jet ski trailers and motorcycle trailers were more different than I expected. But mainly it was because the trailer was too big so it was hard to put the bike in one place.

But we managed it.

As we drove away someone came running at us from the other side of the house. "It's Jade's mom." Cat said. "Don't stop. Wait. Run her down."

"But that's just it, Cat. I have to run her down. She's not moving like a zombie."

"Well she's not herself either. Maybe there's more than one kind. Either way. We can't stop for a chat and let her nibble our bones. So run her down." Cat was obviously still struggling with this, and just as obviously had made up her mind.

"Roger, princess." I swerved the wheel and put the pedal down. But Jade's car is a big old beast that handles like a wet sponge and the trailer made it that much worse.

By the time I was close to where she'd been, she'd darted away. Luckily Jade's house was on the top of a hill. And once the car built up momentum it was really sailing through.

So when I turned off the driveway and down the hill I was eventually able to overtake her. And when I bumped her with the bumper she went right down and under the tires. I backed over her and then got out. "Sit tight I have to go see what sort of monster we're dealing with in this one." I said to Cat and got out to look at her.

She was still moving. And broken up like that I couldn't see a difference. Same clouded staring eyes. Same ragged lips from snapping at everything that moved with a mouth that no longer had feeling, so she caught herself alot..

I only had two to compare neither of them had I ever met alive so as far as I was concerned they looked pretty similar. For now we had to just cope with the fact that there were clumsy slow zombies and running zombies, and other than that we would just have to learn as we went.

I put the pistol next to her head and pulled the trigger

Then I got back into the car and told Cat the bad news. That I hadn't learned anything and we would just need to be careful.

The car couldn't make it back up the hill on the soft leaf-strewn ground while towing the trailer. At a certain point, about ten or twelve yards up, the tires just started to spin and got no purchase.

But Cat knew the property well enough she was able to instruct me in how to take the horse trails down at the bottom of the hill until they met back up with the road.

Then we turned onto the asphalt and started heading for home. Our first stop in this new, horrible, exciting, disgusting adventure.


	2. Chapter 2

"When you were doing those phone calls, did you get a hold of Freddie?" I asked, as we drove down the freeway to the apartment.

"Left a message, but Carly said that he's in New York this week trying for an internship on The Daily Show. They're going to try to reach him, but at least when I talked to them, they didn't even know where he was staying." Cat said

"Well I've been thinking. When this thing spreads it's going to spread exponentially. And it's gonna spread fast. We are asking for trouble being anywhere near a city. I think you should call Tori and tell them to bug out as fast as possible. I suggest we rendezvous in the woods where we went looking for Bigfoot, Carly and Spencer both know where. Once we know how equipped they are we can maybe move it someplace more convenient. I don't know. The smart idea is to head for someplace it snows. Because these things can't be dangerous when they're frozen and the freezing thawing cycle is aging to cars and buildings. Just think how fast it would break down a dead body that's still wandering around. But that's all I have. We all have to brainstorm. And since we do have phone service still and hopefully will until we're together, I don't think it will take more than two days max, probably less. So we should be able to stay in contact all along. I don't expect society to fall that fast. But we need that Bigfoot forest meeting point. Or whatever. Because if it does fall we need to know where to go." I explained.

As soon as the car was stopped, Cat grabbed me and kissed me. Then she surprised me by kissing me again. And again. Then she climbed into my lap and started to grind against my thigh a bit, as her hand came up to cup my breast. "Mmmm, you are so smart. And so suited to this world it looks like. I just know how scared I'd be without you. I've already seen so much bad stuff today. I just want something good." She kissed me again long and deep. "Do we have time?"

I really wished we did, and I said that. Then followed with, "We can't know what level this has already spread to. Or how fast it will go, although I suspect it will be like a wildfire. We could have two days or two hours. But what I do know is once it gets that bad it's too late. Some place with a population like LA would be almost inescapable. so we have to be super careful. We ought to get clear as fast as we can. Then, when we're out of the city, maybe we can find someplace nice and safe. And I'll show you how lucky we are and how good life can still be."

She said okay, but she didn't stop kissing me. I knew I could just start the car and drive away if things suddenly felt hinky at all. Just pretend our return to the apartment had never happened. So I decided to give it a few minutes to get this settled.

I took her face in my hands and kissed her. When the kiss broke I pulled back and looked into her eyes. "This is not the world I would have chosen. If we had to wake up in a movie, I would much rather it was a fairytale. But as long as I'm with you, I'm happy." I said, then rejoined her lips to mine. I stroked my hands over her body as I kissed her. Trying to comfort her with my touch, which for Cat meant a fair amount of groping. I'm not one hundred percent sure it's normal, but unless she is actively sobbing, the best way for me to comfort and console Cat is to treat her like a sex object. But then again,what's normal anyway? And groping her reminded me of better times and made everything look brighter. So who knows, maybe it's just another magical facet of us being perfect for each other.

I wasn't thinking or planning ahead. My hand just slid into her pants. Down over her smooth skin until the tip of my middle finger rested between the crown of her sweet nether lips, over her clit. And I kissed her hard as I began to play with her swelling, hardening, little nub. Sliding smoothly down the length of her slit and back up with the gathered slipperiness that had made it to the front. I rubbed it on her clit and continued to play with it as I kissed her passionately and rough enough it was like I was trying to tongue fuck her mouth as my fingers rubbed her clit. Rougher than I would normally be and more focused on that one tiny part, that was usually too sensitive for such attention. But this time she took it and loved it and I managed to bring her off in just a few short minutes.

So just going with the moment and what felt right it ended up being the fastest way to get her back in her right mind and ready to go. But I've never been the finish quickly and stop type and never will be with this goddessangel beside me. So I just dialed it back and stroked her softly and slowly as I wound down the intensity of the kissing. Until finally I just held her for a moment.

"Mmmm, better?" I asked.

"You are so good to me, Sammy-lamb." She said.

"Do you know what else you want to take?" I asked.

"The glaring one in my mind is my brother's foot locker, now that we can. But I'll do a quick look around." Cat replied.

"Your brother's foot locker?" I wondered aloud.

"Yeah, he used to call it his survival box. I'm sure there's supplies in there and possibly weapons. We'll have to break it open to get into it, but I know it's not booby trapped anymore." She said confidently.

Since I hadn't been thinking it was until she said that, I was naturally wary. "How certain are you?"

"No seriously, Sam. I am certain. I know because he used to booby trap it and he kept hurting himself, so he stopped." She laughed. I'll never know why that girl finds some of these things funny.

"Well, if you're that sure, lets grab it."

It didn't take us long to get the army surplus foot locker full of whatever, my tool box, and a garbage bag each full of the clothes we wore regularly. Then we were ready to get back on the road.

"Anything from Nona?" I asked.

"Nothing." Cat said.

"Do you want to go over there?" I continued.

"I don't know. Do you think we should?" Cat asked, "I'm almost positive she wouldn't go back to Elderly Acres. Not before meeting up with us."

"What about packing? Don't you think she might go there to pack so we don't all have to do it?" I asked.

"Packing, of course. Didn't think of that. That's got to be what she's doing. But then why isn't she answering her phone?" Cat wondered.

"I don't know, do you think we should go see?" I asked.

"Yeah, I guess we better." Cat decided and I started the car.

Something seemed off the moment I pulled into the parking lot. It seemed too quiet for seven thirty am. This was the time I would expect to see elderlies heading in and out of the doors. Going out to doctor's appointments. Going on their morning walks. Playing chess at the tables outside. But there was none of that. There were cars in the parking lot. Maybe a few less than normal, I couldn't be sure.

But what I could be sure of was the blood smears on the cracked windows and the fact that the lobby looked pretty full of aimlessly milling people. From what I could see from where I parked. "This doesn't look good, Kitten." I said.

"Well we can't just leave her there. What if she's alive?" Cat said, starting to cry.

"No baby, I agree. We're going in. That's why I'm scared. If we weren't going in, I'd have said, 'Well at least they're trapped inside and can't think well enough anymore to open a door.' But we're going in there with them."

I tucked the gun in the back of my pants. I tore open the machete box and pulled out a long straight one with a squared off point. I hefted the rock pick in my other hand. "You ready to go lover?" I asked Cat, who was screwing the parts of her spear together.

"Honestly, not really. But I'm not getting any readier." She said and started walking.

I caught up with her in two steps and walked on beside her.

I guess someone got out alive, because the electric panel next to the automatic door was broken and had a screwdriver jammed in it. The security guard's segway was parked out front. So obviously she'd come to investigate. But the fact it was still there pointed to her not being the one who made it out.

"Well it's probably better we sneak around and come in the back, but I'd like to do what I can to get them all on this side if we're going to be on that side." I leaned over the security segway and turned it's siren on. It was the weakest toy sounding thing I would ever imagine. but it didn't need to intimidate anyone. It was a noisemaker of adequate volume. I figured that was all I needed to get the zombies to head toward it and in doing so gather in the lobby away from where I hoped to get in.

"So have you ever been to Nona's actual apartment? Do you know which one is hers, once we get in there." I asked.

"I really don't expect her to just be hanging out in her room at a time like this," Cat said.

"I know, but we have to start somewhere and it's more likely than any other single place. So I'd say it's the logical first one."

"Yeah, I agree." Cat said. "And yes I know which one is hers."

Cat led me around to the back, where I ended up gently tapping a window with the blade of the machete until it quietly cracked and then taking it carefully out of the frame in pieces. I ended up cutting the rag I'd wrapped around my hand to protect it. Which meant that was clearly a good idea, because I didn't cut me.

As we walked through the back hallway we had to pass near the lobby and I decided to peek in; since there was a loud thudding noise and some odd sounding shuffling. Odd because it seemed to be more a scurry than a shuffle.

When we peeked around the doorjamb there were two creatures. One looked like a nurse, the other was certainly the security guard and they were running and throwing themselves against the glass of the sliding automatic door. I wasn't going to investigate, but they were clearly bloody and battered and just as obviously were not being attacked by their shambling cohorts. Who were actually leaving a clear path for them. We had apparently found a couple more examples of the running variety.

As we watched, the nurse cracked the door with her next run and the security guard knocked a piece out, putting her head and one shoulder out into the world. As soon as that little bit of freedom was glimpsed the shamblers, they came forward in a wave breaking the cracked and weakened door open and forcing the guards neck down to be cut deeply by the broken glass, before she and the door collapsed under the onslaught. The siren was louder now as the dead surrounded it. Jostling and pushing each other to get closer to it.

The nurse who had hung back a little now ran out of the building and kept running. Just as we were walking on, I saw the security guard stirring and struggling to stand.

Walking down the hall we heard shuffling in rooms and scuffing at doors as zombies trapped inside, behind doors they couldn't operate, tried to get out. But we had no intention of investigating and we didn't run into any dead that were actually going to interfere with our progress.

We found Nona's room. It was sort of like a cross between a room and an apartment. Like a hotel room. It had a private bathroom and a kitchen area with a square of tile, a couple cupboards, a sink, an under counter mini-fridge and a microwave. But I knew she ate most of her meals in the big dining room.

Either way she wasn't there and there was no sign of a struggle.

What there was sign of was her packing, like we'd guessed. It looked like she was in the middle, a half full suitcase on the bed, several drawers partially out. Like she was in the middle and she got called away.

"Well she's not here." I said. "Let's look around. It's possible we missed her in that crowd in the lobby. but that's a last resort, only if we have to. Until then we need to assume she's alive and possibly needs us. Now we need to be careful and quiet."

Cat nodded and we left the room and began to move slowly down the hall. When we got to the corner Cat pointed to the arrow sign and said. "Dining room next?"

"It's the next logical place after her room and the lobby." I agreed.

At the next T intersection we surprised a zombie, covered in gore and wrist deep in the open belly of a resident. She looked like one of the housekeepers in her uniform. When she saw us she screamed a high gurgling scream like she was screaming through pudding or a mouthful of partially chewed intestines.

From what fell out of her mouth and down her front, I'm guessing the second one. She jumped up and came running at us. She was shortish and a bit chubby but she moved like she was running full out. She was in grabbing range almost before I could move but I pushed her back, using the hammer like a stick to push her of balance and in the split second it took for her to recover I had swung the point down shattering her breastbone and piercing her heart like a large caliber bullet.

As she fell back, I pulled the handle to the left, twisting the head a quarter turn so it slid out easily. It was followed by a lot of very odd looking blood. It was mostly normal but looked just a little off, maybe a little muddy or a little green, I wasn't sure. And the coppery smell of pennies had a hint of something I couldn't identify.

It was only two minutes max, probably less, just long enough for me to think about if I bothered making it permanent when she started to stir again. I severed her head with three hard blows from the machete and she was permanently down.

We walked down the hall past the body of the cleaner and the body she'd been eating, with Cat intently looking at the wall. But we were past in a few steps and she visibly relaxed.

A bit farther along the hall we started hearing faint noises. We couldn't really sort out what they were or where they were coming from. But since as far as we could tell they were coming from the same direction we were going anyway. We decided it wasn't anything we needed to be worried about yet.

"I definitely smell smoke," Cat said

"Yeah," I agreed. "I've been smelling it since we came in. Thought it might just be some electrical short out but it's getting stronger."

We still heard scuffling noises behind some of these doors of their trapped undead occupants trying to open the doors by shuffling against them, which would only work over hundreds of years as they rubbed them down and wore through them and not even zombies lived that long.

As we got closer Cat said, "That sounds like a woman calling for help."

I listened harder, I wasn't sure I could make out words, but that did sound like it might be true.

We were coming in the back way toward the dining room and had to go through the laundry room.

The zombification had obviously happened recently. A few of the regular machines were still in use and all of the wall of industrial staff machines were grinding away, washing linens and the clothes of the elderlies who lived in the managed care section.

But when we were on the other side we could hear the dining room a lot better. It was definitely a woman calling for help. It was Nona.

When we realized who it was we started running.

And ran right in to the fire. It looked like a resident had set light to the library thinking of stopping the zombies. What they didn't know was the dead didn't care if they got burned. Yes fire would destroy them, but not immediately and until then they were wandering around, hungry and on fire. Which makes them temporarily much worse.

I'd read somewhere that books didn't burn too well all together, the air didn't circulate well through the pages, unless they were in a fire of other things that got them hot enough. Well I guess the curtains, hangings and decorations in the library were flammable enough because the books were certainly going now and the sprinkler system was doing little to nothing to affect it.

"What do we do, we've got to save Nona." Cat cried.

Right near the front of the library, before the area where the fire got bad there was a big heavy exit door. "We go outside and around I guess."

I led Cat outside, making sure the door closed completely. I didn't want responsibility for letting any more zombies out.

We got to the glass doors of the dining room two minutes later and could clearly see Nona, backed into a corner with a wooden hatrack, using it as a staff to keep any zombie that came close to her pushed back out of bite range. Because they couldn't surround her and she could keep them back she wasn't in any immediate danger. But there looked like there were about a dozen deadheads and if there was a weapon on the end maybe she could have whittled them down. But with what she had, all it was doing was postponing the inevitable, to give her a chance to be rescued. And she was obviously starting to falter with exhaustion. Luckily we arrived when we did.

But it was still too early in the day. All this had happened while there was still dew on the grass and a chill in the air, the heavy glass doors were still closed and locked.

"What do we do?" Cat cried. "We can't get through here, we can't get through the library. She'll never last while we go around and come through another door."

"I was just wondering the same thing. I was hoping to sneak up on them distracted and kill them before they were even paying attention to us. But there's no avoiding it." I said and hit the glass with my rock pick right near the door handle. hoping that if i chip away around the handle, the lock wouldn't be attached to the rest of the door anymore and it would slide open.

Which might of worked except for two things. This was a moderately upscale elderly village in LA. The door not only had a lock but bolts screwed along the length of it through the frame, and it was made of safety glass. They were not taking chances with intruders.

But it did break some and the tip got through, so it was possible. It just all stayed together and in the frame. But I was betting if a big enough area was busted up I could get it out of the way. And time was much more important than sneakiness that didn't look like it was happening anyway.

So I just started to pound away at the door with the rock pick.

I'd probably hit three times when the noise was enough to make Nona's zombies turn away from her and start shuffling over to the glass door. Cat apparently decided there was no reason for quiet now with all my banging because she yelled, "Don't worry Nona, we'll help you."

It was only a minute to get it busted up enough to pull the pebbled mass out of the frame.

Or it would have been, except my banging and Cat's shouting hadn't only notified inside zombies. Something sacked me on the play. Or tackled me from behind just as I was about to do something. In this case get that glass out and help my girlfriend's grandmother. And I suppose she'd been a surrogate grandma to me too.

It wasn't hard to sort out what had attacked me as it was now on my back snapping at my hair trying to get to my neck. I swung blindly behind me with the pickhammer while Cat said, "I'll get it Sammy!" And stabbed it with her spear with enough force to push it off me.

I rolled to my feet and saw it had been a boy about our age in red shorts and a grey hoodie. Cat had got him deep between the ribs and the bloodstain was spreading pretty quickly. But that wasn't much help with a deadhead.

I swung the rock pick at him as he charged me again. Sadly, I wasn't paying good attention and it was the hammer side I hit him with. It visibly dented his head but he didn't die. He did however stumble and fall through the broken glass door, pulling the whole works out of the frame and inside with him.

The assembled dead were crowding against the door so badly they actually delayed him clearing it. By pushing back as a mass and stopping him from getting any further in. It was probably his greater resiliency and energy that enabled him to push his way through them. But he did. And when he had worked his way between them he fell to the ground pulling the pebbled plastic sheet that had been the core of the glass with him, and then the mass of corpses closed around him as they jostled to get out.

I had been hearing sirens in the distance at least since we left the library, but given the current situation I would expect sirens in the distance would be common until civilization finished collapsing.

But these ones suddenly got a lot louder as we were saved from having to face the zombies by the fact that they were now distracted and turned toward the noise walking clumsily and the boy running but obviously worse for wear because he was stumbling a lot now.

But we couldn't worry about it, we could only be grateful that the sirens were going to distract them to give us a chance to save Nona.

Although now that I thought about it, they sounded like they stopped in our parking lot. Or at most next door.

Cat tripped over the ledge of the doorframe, because the door was still closed, it just didn't have a door in it. But it did have a two inch metal lip.

Luckily she didn't cut herself. I was not looking forward to seeing if this zombie thing could spread through open wounds. I knew we would have to learn eventually through someone getting hurt, but the longer the better in my opinion.

She did twist her ankle though. I was pretty sure she couldn't walk on it right now.

I could carry her; if we didn't meet anymore deadies and Nona could manage herself. I explained that to her and she said she'd be fine.

I gave Cat my weapons and lifted her up.

As we walked through the halls and heard the occasional trapped zombie going a bit crazier trying to escape and get to the sirens, but saw absolutely no one except a couple who were actually and permanently dead, I was grateful. We heard shots begin and continue regularly. "I guess the police or national guard came with the fire department." Nona said.

"Did you get in touch with my mom and dad?" Cat asked.

"Sure did. They said they would make excuses at the residence to get your brother out, then they would head up to Aunt Shirley's cabin. It's out of the way, and only about an eight hour drive from where they are." Nona said.

"I didn't know Aunt Shirley had a cabin." was Cat's reply.

"No, you wouldn't, you only met her once or twice. She's Uncle Jesse's wife." Nona said.

"Well I don't know who Aunt Shirley or Uncle Jesse are," I interrupted. "But that really sounds like a conversation that would be better had in a moving car. We only have a minute or two before we hit the lobby and we need a plan so we aren't shot by overzealous cops, thinking we're zombies."

"No problem," Nona said, "I had thought we might run into something like that. not here and now but at some point." She pulled a white linen napkin out of her pocket. "Tie this on your little spear there Cat. And wave it for the police as well as loudly announcing yourselves. Even the most overzealous policeman won't mistake you for one of them. They lack the coordination and the speech."

"Maybe some of them but those running ones, those are not the same. We don't know what those are like. Or why." I said.

"Actually my friend the general was- Ahhh" And this time Nona went down. She just hissed and moaned and rubbed it for a minute. "Ooooh it's twisted good, girls." She said. "Sam, I think you're going to need to take Cat out and leave her with the authorities and come back and help me. Or send someone back. I'll be safe here. there's none of those creatures. The sirens called them all out front."

"Alright." I said. "I'll be back in just a minute or two."

It was just one more short hall and then we were in the lobby. As soon as we were in view Cat started waving the flag and we both started calling out. The police came over the loudspeaker. "Attention bystanders. You have been seen and recognized as benign. Please exit briskly and carefully, we have you covered."

When we were about halfway across the lobby, Nona came busting in, jerking along, hobble-running as best she could. When I turned back to look I could see a lumbering zombie in pursuit. Nona made an exasperated noise with what breath she could spare and motioned me to run too.

There was only one, she had a decent lead, and we were running to safety; so I took her advice and began to trot as best I could holding Cat to my chest.

We made it out and were about ten feet from the first Sheriff's cruiser when the gunfire started. Just a split second burst of noise from about a dozen weapons as the deadhead was taken care of. One of the Officers met me and took Cat out of my arms. "Don't worry girls. You were lucky. We got both of them."


	3. Chapter 3

Cat whispered in my ear, "Carry me to the car please." in a dead cold voice.

When we got there she said, "May I borrow your pick hammer?" When I handed it to her she said, "Of course I will replace it if it's damaged." in that same detached voice.

I tried to explain I couldn't care less about the rock hammer at a time like this, but she wasn't paying any attention.

She took the long pointed side and hit her brother's foot locker with it until the lock broke and the latch popped off completely.

When the police began to approach Cat called out, "Nothing to worry about officers, all is well. I just want to break the latch off of this trunk so no horrible monster could hide inside and attack us."

They accepted it, because they had other thoughts to contend with.

But when Cat got the box open, it looked like a militia dump. It was half a dozen guns, a collapsible missile launcher with mortars and at least fifty loose grenades of different types. Also five or six bags of cheez crunchies and boxes of nutrition bars. Looked like some of the stuff dated back to World War Two, some were foreign from the Cyrillic labeling on the few full boxes. But the snacks looked good which was important.

Cat put the open trunk across the backseat and climbed in after it. "Start the car Sam." Cat said, her voice still expressionless but it had taken on a hard tone.

"What're you gonna do?" I asked.

"The car. Sam." She said by way of response.

I got in and started the car, expecting at any moment one of the police to come over and tell us we couldn't leave until they had a chance to talk to or debrief us. But it didn't look like it was happening. Cat leaned forward from the back seat. "I don't think I have to tell you this, but best we're on the same page," She pointed straight forward, her voice dead, her arm shaking just a little. "We have an unobstructed drive straight forward. Floor it. Through the parking lot, down the little embankment, over the curb, straight down that little street. Don't take your foot off the gas til we get to Quince and turn left. Is it quince like the fruit or quince like spanish fifteen, I always wondered. And now we'll never know. Okay now watch me for the signal."

She took two grenades from the box. They both looked like a stick of dynamite with a can on the top. She threw them out the window at the cop cars. Clean arc, good distance, not perfect but certainly good enough to get them where they needed to go.

"That was my Nona! You! Pig! Shit! Fuckers!" She screamed, then allowed her grief to properly take her as she crumpled into herself in huge wracking sobs and I floored it.

I had just gone over the curb and started down the embankment when they detonated. I noticed as she'd thrown, that Nona's actual shooter was next to the car that one of the grenades had gone under, the car whose gas tank had added to the impressive fireball I'd seen in the rearview mirror. So I was guessing even if he'd tried to run it was unlikely he escaped the flying metal and fire.

I wanted to pull over and comfort Cat, but I think she knew that. "Take the 405 out to that Tom's drive thru by Canyonback Park. It's out in B.F.E. enough to be likely untouched yet, but it'll be open. We'll get some food, take a breath and you can give me those cuddles that I really need right now."

I saw the reason of what she said, but it killed me to hear her sobbing and sniffling in the back seat. So I floored it onto the freeway and drove like a madwoman. That was pretty much how everyone was driving. Plus the freeway was really starting to fill up. Luckily no one else seemed to understand how much the police had become meaningless in the new world. I just stayed on the shoulder and zipped by traffic. I saw a couple cars far ahead who'd taken the same idea and more than a few copycats pulled out behind me, but I had no interference. I kept the nine millimeter in my hand to shoot any car that seemed to be in danger of getting in my way. But luckily there were not many of those.

It was just under twenty minutes, including the time on surface streets after exiting, before I was in the Tom's parking lot.

"Food first or cuddles?" I asked.

Cat had quieted down a lot in the interim time. "Food first. then you can come back here and we'll eat and cuddle."

"Sounds yummy." I said and went through the drive thru. Ordering her a greek salad and me a double barbecue bacon cheeseburger and onion rings for us to split, because one order was one of those paper lunch sacks full, the way other places filled a little fry bag.

When we pulled around to the window the girl who gave me our food asked, "I'm hearing all sorts of craziness on the news. What's going on out there?"

"Well, since we already got our food, I'll be straight with you. As crazy as it sounds, the dead are rising. Zombies are walking the streets and it's chaos and mass hysteria everywhere."

"You could have just said you didn't know what I was talking about. You didn't need to be a bitch." The girl said, her smile falling into a look of disgust.

Normally I would just drive away and forget her, but I was trying to do a good deed and I was willing to give it another try. "I'm serious," I said. "I've got a gun next to me on the seat. If you look in the back you will see that not only is my girlfriends visibly crying and upset, but she's sitting next to a foot locker full of missiles, hand grenades, and guns."

The girl looked back at Cat, her eyes going wide. "I suggest you walk off shift and prepare." I said. "Call and warn your family. Weapons. I suggest at least something smashy or cutty but long. A shovel is better than a butcher knife. A canoe paddle is also better than a butcher knife but not as good as a shovel. Just anything that keeps them away from you and has potential to smash or sever their head."

"You could cut someone's head off with a canoe paddle?" Cat asked from the back seat.

"I could, this one maybe not." I turned back to the cashier. "Get a gun if you can, but something that never runs out of ammo, sword, bat, shovel, axe, whatever, is more important than a gun if you are prioritizing. Good luck."

She clearly had more questions. But she was our age and seemed bright enough, she could figure it out for herself. I've got enough to worry about with Cat and hopefully our friends would make it out of Seattle.

I drove us up into the park a bit and found an empty lot to park in. I brought the food into the back and Cat crawled into my lap and clung to me for a moment. I held her tight; she was squeezing my neck almost enough to choke me.

"Hmm, I really expected it to just hit me all brand new when I was in your arms. But for now, this is enough. Just having you here holding me." Cat said.

So I held her tight and fed her there in the backseat. Also feeding myself in sort of a bite for her, bite for me rotation with a bit of comforting and stroking her back in between.

Cat didn't really eat meat too much but she wasn't smug and patronizing about it like most vegans. She would kiss me while my mouth tasted like bacon cheeseburgers or whatever. I think that's because she hadn't sworn off it. She just didn't bother with it most days. Like she didn't feel like it more than some moral stand.

Speaking of kissing, that seemed to be next on Cat's itinerary. We hadn't finished eating but that didn't seem to affect anything. She tasted like basil garlic vinaigrette, feta cheese, and olives. Which isn't as good as bacon but is pretty nice. And is more like what my lover should taste like, even I knew that. She never was a bacon girl, least not while I've known her, and it just wouldn't suit her.

First she put an onion ring in her teeth and turned to me, clearly wanting me to kiss her and take the other half. It was a game that worked better with french fries or spaghetti but I knew what to do and, naturally, was happy to do it.

Then we kissed and ate a little and then kissed more. My tongue touching hers, then gently beginning to explore her mouth.  
Trying to keep it soft and nice. But it wasn't long before Cat had made it clear to me, by ramping it up every time I tried to dial it down, that she wanted it hard.

And I had promised her, back at the apartment, I knew that. I wanted to get out of the whole LA county urban area before we found someplace nice for the frolicking she craved. But that was before she lost her grandmother and we were already here. So there was nothing I could really say. Except telling myself that we definitely needed to keep it under an hour if possible.

I started to slide my hand into the back of her pants as I kissed her.

"We're almost definitely safe here, right Sam?" Cat asked.

"More likely now then in the future. This has gone far enough that the people who would normally be here walking their dogs, jogging, or whatever haven't shown up. But the likelihood that it has any deadheads is probably pretty slim.' I agreed.

"That flat rock, where we had a picnic two weeks ago, is just on the other side of that field. I've always wanted to play naked at the park." Cat said, "Do you think we could strip down here and run through the field naked. Then go and play on that rock in the sun?"

There's no question it would be wildly irresponsible to pause our escape for nudist romps and sexy times. But in this situation clothing was not really a tactical concern. As long as I brought weapons there wasn't a big difference between if I was wearing clothes or not.

Plus, maybe one day all this death might become old hat. But right now if your Nona dies, you get your way on anything you ask for that day.

We stripped down and I made sure the nine millimeter's magazine was full and we ran into the field.

We were both naked, I with a gun in one hand and a machete in the other; Cat with her spear. I pictured us looking like something out of some niche fantasy porno. Cat small and thin, completely hairless everywhere except her long red velvet hair and a deceptively delicate looking spear looked like some sort of sex elf. Me with all my honey gold body fur grown out, because Cat loved it, blade and gun drawn, could be her neo-barbarian partner. If Shadowrun's adult entertainment arm wouldn't kill for pictures of something like, that I'd be surprised.

I am not the little nudist Cat is and I probably never would be. But I had to admit once the weirdness wore off, which didn't take more than a few minutes, it was cool. Running naked through a field with my girlfriend, stopping halfway there because we wanted to kiss. Then we put the stone that had been our goal on the back burner for a bit and just played. I had never felt so free and suddenly we were two teenagers playing naked adventure rather than girls on the run from the living dead.

If there is a sight more adorable than Cat's naked bottom running along, sun dappled through leaves; I hope I never see it. I don't think my heart could take the strain.

I chased after her and grabbed her and kissed her. Moving the kiss deeper as I lingered on her tasty lips and sweet agile tongue.  
Feeling her warm taut body, faintly sheened in sweat from our running. She felt so delightful in my arms. It was easy to forget the new world we'd awakened into, and I promised myself I would do exactly that for while.

When our heart warming and brain fuzzening kiss was over I took my girl's hand and walked with her to our lover's rock.

It was actually such a sweet small beautiful experience, walking naked hand in hand through the woods. I wished it was a bit longer of a walk. Because right at that minute idyllic and sweet even took precedence over the burning passion she sparked in me.

Because it chased zombie fear from my brain, not that I had any doubt more intimate acts would do the same. But sex had a specific end in a way simple naked frolicking didn't.

Of course all those thoughts were soon pushed from my mind.

Since I hadn't mentioned my second thoughts, when we reached the large flat white stone, like a double papasan chair made of granite, Cat let go of my hand and began to crawl out onto the rock.

Standing behind her watching her crawl, with her adorable hairless pink slit between her slightly spread legs. I had no choice but to drop to my knees and catch her by the hips, burying my face in her. Kissing her butt and upper thighs. Kissing down to her warm wet pussy. Kissing her lips with affection and desire.

Then as her scent and taste hit me I wasn't given the choice to work up to anything. My love for her filled my heart and brain to the point that they were smothered in the honey colored light of perfect beauty that was how my body and mind represented our love to me.

Just like I saw red when my temper snapped, I saw gold when I tasted my sweet kitten girl. Actually like the rage red, I didn't just see the rich gold of our love it filled me and on some level I became it. Suddenly I knew as soon as we were safe, if not before, I needed to marry this girl.

That was always the plan but 'some day' is not as assured as it once was and while I didn't want to die at all, I tripley didn't want to die without standing up and declaring our love. I wanted at least one night with her as my wife.

And oddly enough, where these thoughts were normally more warm and fuzzy and comforting, right now even thinking of that was soooo fuckin hot.  
Suddenly I was moaning deep in my throat, my hands holding her hips, my mouth on her, my tongue as deep in her as I could go.

Cat moaned and pressed back against me. Moving her hips in little circles pressing her cute pink butthole on the tip of my nose and her sweet soft pussy on my tongue and hungry lucky mouth.

One second it occurred to me to lay her down so I could lick her deeply and thoroughly, the next second I had moved from her slit to her bottom.

If I was going to move her to a better position for licking one hole in a second, I was first going to lick the hole this was the best position for.

As soon as the tip of my tongue entered her in back, she let out a surprised but excited moan that got quickly deeper and longer.  
I don't know what it is about buttplay that turns her moans of pleasure into pleasure groans but the same thing happens to me. Cat says it might have something to do with stimulating the root chakra but since that is in the middle between the two I can't see how.

I leave those things to Cat and better minds than me. She knows bodies I know machines, it's a good balance.

As I pressed my tongue in deeper, moving my hands slightly to spread Cat open as I held her. Her slim clever hand slid back between her legs to begin rubbing her clit and around the outside rim of her tasty front fuckhole while I pleasured the back.

I kissed her cheeks and upper thighs and gave them little playful licks before sliding my tongue back up to her butt. Licking within as well as around the hole, kissing it deeply and lapping at it in turns. I slid my middle finger in the spit slick hole to the second knuckle then laid her down and turned her over, rubbing her from the inside as I began to work again on her adorable cuntlet.

I kissed and licked her lips and began to give some attention to her tiny clit.  
I loved the fact that her pussy looked like a moist and expectant mouth. I thought it was cute and sexy as can be. But honestly, in the secret of my own mind, I kinda figured with my full lips and pinky tip sized clit I had to be more sensitive that her. Neither of us would ever know, and we both were very happy with our sex stuff. But I had to be gettin the better deal, I had to be. That's not even going into how lucky I was to have Cat be the one lovin on me. She is really good at it. I mean I'm good at it but Cat is like reeeaaaaalllyy good at it. And with the massagey stuff I suspect that is a verifiable fact and not just me being in love with her.

Course thinking about me being in love with her just filled me with warm cuddle goodness and hot cummy goodness and just made me want to spread her lips so I could lick deeper and more thoroughly.

So I did. Double penetrating her; with my biggish and semi-agile tongue in the front and my biggish and semi-agile finger in the back. I could feel my fucking and exploring finger pressing against the bottom of my tongue through the wall of muscle that separates her holes. Cat's fingers in my hair that had been touching and stroking me suddenly clenched as she moaned loudly.

This combined with the feeling a moment before gave me the idea to move my tongue on to kissing her lips and licking her clit as my finger in her butt pressed up stimulating her g spot through the wall. Something I'd only recently discovered could be done. I don't know why I was surprised, the prostate, which was what the gspot gland grew into in boys, could only be stimulated up the butt.

I knew I hadn't done the preliminary build up necessary to make her squirt but I did want to give her the hardest cum I could.

Cat started to bat at me as her moans got louder and I could feel her muscles start to spasm as she came. Right before she lost control completely she tried to push me away. As she always did because the waves were too intense. But I just kept going and soon she was holding on to me tight.

My own body was doing some muscle spasms of its own. She tasted so good and felt so good and the very idea of licking her while fucking her ass with my finger and working so hard to make her cum and knowing now that I'd done it made waves and little zings of pleasure build in me. Until I had my own small sweet orgasm just from making love to her.

As I kissed and licked her, slowing things down and bringing my lover in for a soft loving landing rather than just stopping what I was doing, I heard rustling in the brush. It sounded close-ish. I figured I would have heard it sooner if I hadn't been preoccupied. But there was still plenty of time to grab the gun and pop the deadhead that shambled out of the woods.

It was next to nothing and I was just about to go back to what I was doing when I realized the sounds were still there and getting louder. Not even three minutes later zombie dad who I'd blown away was followed by zombie mom and two little zomblings.

Still had them bagged in under a minute but the mood was gone.

Cat said it best, "That was a real bucket of ice water, huh?"

I agreed.

"I could get back in the mood pretty quick, but if you don't need some release, the roads aren't getting less crowded I'm sure." Cat said.

"I got mine enough to be cool for the moment just doing you and a bit of frustrated aggression would probably work in my favor right now." I replied.

Since Mr and Mrs Wormfood and the kids were in the other direction and we didn't need to pass or look at them on our way, the naked walk hand in hand with Cat was just as nice as the walk in and was almost fun enough to make me decide maybe we did have a bit of extra time.

But we just didn't, LA was hell on the best of days traffic-wise and this stuff would change it for the much worse.  
Not only would no one be at work this particular weekday morning. But everyone with an ounce of sense and a mind open enough to believe their own eyes would be on the road trying to leave before the zombies got thick enough in the city to make escape realistically impossible.

I drove down and stopped next to the ranger station and got online on my pear phone using their wifi.

It turned out that we were looking at a seventeen hour drive minimum.

I thought it was closer to ten but when I came on my bike it was very roundabout, and when I'd come before like the time we came with Spencer in the RV, he was stopping every five minutes to wazz or eat or look at the pretty leaf.  
So I guess I over compacted how fast I could do it.  
With roads as they stood we were probably looking at two days. Luckily the mountains where we were meeting were south of Seattle a couple hours, but even then it wasn't near enough to even cancel the fact it'd be slower going with panic stricken traffic.

Even if we got out of LA on time, there were plenty of other panicked cities. Maybe not as big, but plenty big enough between us and our friends.

My original idea was to take the five north, but it gave the 15 to the 84 when I Zaplooked directions and that was only four hours different on a normal day.

But I'd ridden those roads. A most of that is out in the boonies a lot more than the 5. I really thought it'd be safer and no longer once all was said and done. Further definitely, but no longer, and the campground we were shooting for was off the 84.

We'd head near or through Vegas and Salt Lake City and a couple other not as big as LA but biggish cities but where we were meeting everyone would be before it hit Portland and it seemed better all the way around.

So I fought my way over to the 210 with aggressive driving and keeping to the shoulder where possible.  
Getting there was madness and it took almost two hours but I noticed before we even hit the 15 it was slacking off some and it just got better.

Still I noticed that things continued to be a dozen different kinds of fucked.

Including one of the runner zombies running right toward me. I almost just hit him but then remembered how much a body can annihilate a car, and we'd just gotten lucky with Mrs. West.

In the end I popped him a couple times and drove over him when he fell. This had the added benefit of letting the other cars know I had a gun, close at hand, had no issue with using it, and could use it skillfully enough to shoot someone accurately from a moving car. Which was definitely information I wanted them to have.

Not long after that Cat's phone rang. It was Dice and Goomer, they'd gotten our message and after one last check to make sure Cat wasn't joking and a brief description of what we'd seen They said they'd seen some strange things themselves but the full blown panic and the zombies that caused it had made it to Fresno but not yet in great enough numbers to be obvious.

We agreed to meet them in Barstow where the 15 left California. Not only was that the most convenient place between here and there but I honestly would rather have a little back up for the two of us heading into vegas. Which I suspected was going to be a bad scene.

Plus Dice had an uncle and some cousins there so he was able to give us the location of an Inside Out Burger that we could meet at.

If I was going to say the drive to Barstow was uneventful, I would want to clarify first that uneventful had a different meaning in this new and unimproved world. It now meant except for the horror and carnage, the dead people of all ages and amounts of having been consumed, many of whom were still up walking around. Plus the constant certain knowledge that you were only one inevitable traffic jam away from fighting hordes of the ravenous dead for your life, it was uneventful.

But those were some pretty big 'aside from's.

We found Goomer's car exactly where we expected to but the boys weren't in it. Just allowing for driving time and the fact the hood was still hot there is no way it had been sitting for even thirty minutes.

Of course the first place we looked was in the restaurant. That was before we even wondered where they could be. Saw an empty car and assumed. But they weren't there, no one was. There were cars in the parking lot. The doors were open. But no one living or dead, staff or customer, was inside.

It was maybe two hours from dusk; maybe eleven hours since Nona had woken us with the unbelievable news.

The suburban streets of Barstow were a little worse for wear. There were a few accidents. One car fire that was completely unattended, and if not quite as many abandoned mutilated corpses as a larger city might have, there were certainly enough to notice.

But no Goomer or Dice. The few passersby we could get to even speak to us had no information to share.  
Even that was no surprise since they would have arrived so recently and so very few people could be stopped unless I threatened them with a gun and people threatened will say anything they think you want to hear. Especially in a situation like this where they just want to shut me up and get on their way.

We didn't know what to do and were just walking the streets. I had just brought up the possibility that we might have to leave without them when we heard Dice's voice. "Clovis no! Goomer hold him tighter."

We started to run. We came around the corner and saw them about halfway down the block. Dice was almost to Goomer, running himself. Goomer was holding a little kid about four who was thrashing and snapping his little jaws, his eyes rolling in their sockets. Guessing the kid was a runner.

"There you are." Cat said. "We have been looking for you boys for hmmmm… forty minutes now. Why didn't you stay by the car?"

I would have started with, 'Why'd you catch one? You can't keep it as a pet.' But my Kitten has her own priorities.

"We were waiting there, I'd tried to call my Uncle Flaubert maybe half a dozen times." Dice said. "No answer and suddenly little Clovis runs past the parking lot in the street screaming and crying. Being chased by his sister, Mabel. But she'd gone crazy. Naturally we ran after them. Hoping that we could save him. Right before we got to them I called out to him to reassure him. Of course as soon as he hears his name and recognizes my voice he stops and Mabel catches him.  
We can't have been more than twenty feet back. She couldn't have had him for even ten seconds before we were there. She bit him pretty bad on the shoulder but that was it."

"Goomer got Clovis away and knocked Mabel down and she came up attacking us." Dice finished.

"That must have been your first runner." I said. "There are two kinds of zombies. Most are your standard movie walking corpses. Slow, plodding, clumsy but there are a few that are more like people, but completely out of control."

"I don't think they're zombies." Dice said. "I think they're victims of zombies. Hold him still Goomer." Goomer took a slightly different grip on the kid as the tendons bunched in his neck as well as his arms, but he held him almost completely still.

Dice approached closely. "Look at these eyes. They're the eyes of a wild animal now. My cousin isn't in there anymore. But these are the seeing eyes of a living being. Mabel's eyes didn't go blank and cloudy until Goomer had to kill her with an axe just to stop her. The runners as you call them are living people infected with whatever it is the zombies have. Infected with zombieism."

I thought back and the only ones we had seen up super close. Close enough to tell, like Mrs West, had already been killed when we examined them. Others like the freeway runner or the one who tackled me at Elderly Acres either I killed and ignored or they got away, either way I wasn't investigating.

"Maybe you're right, it certainly fits as good or better than a mysterious second strain of zombie. Either way I don't think they can be brought back. So there is no reason to treat them any different." I placed the gun against the kid's head and pulled the trigger. Carefully aiming so the bullet, and the head splatters it carried with it, went away from us.


End file.
